acid free hinging

[JayRay]

What is your favorite way to hinge something acid free to a mat? Brands of tapes or other hinging would be helpful

[Ron Eggers]

Jay, most of us prefer to hinge the art to the back board rather than to the mat.

My new favorite way to do that is with a nice assortment of papers, Nori paste from FrameTek and Japanese hinges. There is a short video at the FrameTek website that shows exactly how to do it. It's incredibly easy, but it's c/p (so you get to charge a lot.)

That's what I use if the art is worth protecting. If it's disposable and light-weight, I use framer's tape.

[Bill Henry-]

Although adhering the art to the substrate is the generally accepted (and preferred) method, positioning it takes a bit more time and effort than simply taping it to the mat.

For quick, down and dirty mounting for small pieces, I confess that I often use Filmoplast P™ to tape artwork to the inside of the mat. Filmoplast is an "acid free" (check the archives on that claim) <u>paper</u> tape and, therefore, does not have the strength to attach photos and paper borne art much larger than 16 x 20.

My suggestion is to do it Ron's way – the right way – so it won't return in a few months and bite you in the butt.

[Ron Eggers]

Inspired by Bill's candor, I will tell you that, when confronted by a collage of 30-40 snapshots, I will tape them (from the top only) to the back of the mat window.

I have a 20x24 light table built into my fitting table to facilitate this process. I put the mat face-down on the light table and position the prints from the back. Then I secure them with a couple tabs of framer's tape.

I would be astounded, or at least skeptical, if even a purist will claim that they would hinge each of these little photos to the backing board with Japanese hinges.

(Paste hinges don't work that well on RC prints anyway.)

[B. Newman]

All this honesty brings to mind a question.

How do you open a frame up again after it's been finished?

If you open it from the back, and gently lift each piece out of the frame, (unless the backing board and matboard are attached together) wouldn't it be better to have the piece attached to the mat so that when the backing board is lifted up the print stays flat?

I know the backing and mat are supposed to be hinged together, but I seem to recall that a lot of people don't do that.

I guess it all depends on how it goes in as to how it should come out, huh?

Betty

[MarkG1]

Sometimes I will use the P-90 and adhere to the mat in two spots on the top of photos. I like Ron's idea about the lighted table. I'm gonna try that. Thank's Ron!

I use allot of the maxi-view clear corners mounted to the back board.

I have to admit that I like using the wheat starch paste and paper hinges on those items such as original art on paper. It's not to bad once you do it a couple of times. This will hold when presure sensitive tapes will let loose. Not to mention that they say it's a prefered method. ;)

Betty,

How about standing the frame on its bottom rail and removing the items by leaning them out away from the frame? That's how I would do it, unless the glass was broken, then that's a whole other problem.

[preservator]

Cutting a window in a sheet of board makes the
board much weaker than an uncut board of the
same size would be. This means that attaching
the work to the window is putting it in the
weakest place. A four ply window with a four
ply back mat that are spined along the long edge
remains the standard for window matting and
attaching the work to the back mat puts it where
those unframing it will expect it to be.

Hugh

[Rebecca]

Plus, attaching the art to the window mat can make a 'drum", and the art is easily punctured (I've seen lots of those). Or, if it is just attached at the top, the body of the art can fall through the window when disassembled by the unwary, and get tangled up and creased.

Rebecca